Britney Spears is back – or, to be more accurate, Britney Spears’ body’s back, and then some.

The pop tart’s new video for her ode-to-the-threeway single “3” off her upcoming Britney Spears: The Singles Collection (out on Nov. 10) is literally steaming hot, and features her in the most rocking black lace leggings, two muscled boy toys, and lots of the sexy stuff:

This really is the best Spears has looked in years. Don’t ever go away again, boo!

Well, it’s not like X-Men Origins: Wolverine was going to earn Hugh Jackman an Academy Award (we know), but the actor won’t be attending next year’s show – not as the evening’s host, at least.

Jackman has quietly pulled himself out of the running to host the 2010’s Oscars because he reportedly didn’t want to host the ceremony two years in a row.

I think it’s a smart move.

Dude’s special, and he should only make everything special. If Jackman thinks there can be such a thing as too much of him, then I won’t argue. I won’t like it, but I won’t argue.

Photo: PhotoBucket.com.Update: Another A-Lister who wont be, or doesn’t think he’ll be hosting the Oscars next year is next year’s Golden Globes host Ricky Gervais.“If Oscars called, yes (I’d entertain the offer) but I don’t think they would,” the comedian told EW.com. “If they called me, I’d say, ‘I’ll turn up an hour before. I may be drunk, but just point me to where the microphone is.’ I don’t think they’ll accept those terms.”

Production on the show will be halted after its original 13-episode order is completed.

Cliff Curtis, who plays the resident bad boy on the show (which I’ve been On Demand-ing), teased earlier this week that they, “actually have an episode coming up where [co-star Taylor Kinney] takes his shirt off, it’s one for the ladies, and that boy is in mad shape.”

Uhh...from the looks of Kinney, Trauma should’ve had the dude shirtless a looong time ago. Hello!

Up until now, all I knew was that Worthington would be playing a wheelchair-bound former Marine named Jake Sully, and that the movie would be set in the 22nd century on the alien moon Pandora.Now I know who else is in the movie (hello, Giovanni Ribisi and Michelle Rodriguez!), and what brings Sully to Pandora, and what the main conflict will be.I am excited....Avatar opens on Dec. 18.

Today, President Barack Obama signed a law that makes it a federal crime to assault an individual because of his or her sexual orientation or gender identity.

Obama pledged to sign the Matthew Shepard & James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which was added to a $680 billion defense authorization bill, after the Senate passed the legislation last week.

To loud applause, the POTUS hailed the hate crimes measure in the bill as a step toward change to “help protect our citizens from violence based on what they look like, who they love, how they pray. Today I’m pleased to say that we have proved that change is possible.”

Melrose Place has a resident bisexual in its Ella (Katie Cassidy), and Gossip Girl just got its gay on when Chuck Bass (Ed Westwick) kissed a boy (and kinda liked it).

Now 90210 is readying its first same-sex story line for January, which will pair West Beverly’s token lesbian, Gia (Rumer Willis, pictured at right), with – Spoiler Alert! – Adriana (Jessica Lowndes).

“This isn’t a fling,” said executive producer Rebecca Sinclair. “We’re coming at this [relationship] from a genuine place and not going, ‘Let’s do a titillating story that will grab some promotion.’ This is a real aspect of teenager life…. And there’s been a real void [on the show] in terms of gay and bisexual characters.”

Yeah – they’re here, and they’re queer. Deal with it. Better yet, watch the show – something I have to do because it’s only a matter of time before my TiVo starts deleting my 90210 episodes.

It’s prolly thinking, “You’re not a squirrel, you don’t need to store up for winter.”

OK – so I’ve been a bad 24 fan, having let my commitment to the show lapse halfway through last season, and not, mind you, because I wasn’t liking the plot but rather due to scheduling conflicts.

Whatever. I’ve been bad, and now I have to catch up.

I do understand, though, that Kiefer Sutherland’s Jack Bauer ended his last very long day with a bit of a health scare, and that he’d decided to – what the what! – retire.

Think again, Jack. It’s time for you to have a cookie, buck up, and keep going.

24’s eighth season will see TV’s busiest hero race through the streets of NYC trying to stop an assassination at the United Nations:

Spoiler Alert: All Jack will want as Day 8 starts is his family, which now includes a cute-as-a-button granddaughter. Yeah...Jack’s a total GILF now! We’ll have to wait until Jan. 17 to see if he gets his wish.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

OK – so I’m not watching TV’s Modern Family quite just yet this year (I’m TiVoing it for…something soon).

But oy if the comedy didn’t just get more appealing: Elizabeth Banks, one of my all-time faves, and Chazz Palminteri will both guest-star later this season.

Banks will play a friend who Cam and Mitchell (the gay couple, right?) partied with before they adopted a baby girl. Having lost her friends, Banks’ character begins to hate their little bundle o’ joy.

Meanwhile, Palminteri will play a friend of Ed O’Neill’s character.

Modern Family hasn’t had any trouble lining up bold-faced names to pay visits: Shelley Long already made an appearance, and Benjamin Bratt and Ed Norton are also a-comin’.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Yeah, I hesitate to call this epilogue in the life of the late King of Pop a documentary film because it really is nothing but a making-of documentary, y’ know, material that anyone would’ve expected to find as extras in the eventual DVD release of Jackson’s never-happened “This Is It Tour,” a series of concerts in London scheduled for last summer. So if you’re looking for that, then this will be right up your alley. Here we are, though, and here we’ve been anticipating the opening around the world of this exclusive two-week engagement of Michael Jackson’s THIS IS IT, hoping that we’d be among the lucky ones to score tickets to this event.

And there you’ll be in the next few days, standing in line, buying popcorn, saving seats for friends, singing along with MJ, and choking up as you realize that, indeed, this is it.

After a lifetime of entertaining us, of shocking us, of disappointing us, MJ is gone. Buried, but certainly not forgotten.

Watching Michael Jackson’s THIS IS IT, though, I couldn’t help but wonder: Is that all there is?

“This film is Michael’s gift to his fans,” said Kenny Ortega (High School Musical), the tour’s director-turned-the doc’s director, in anticipation of its release.

Some may say it’s a risky way for a studio to make a buck, but I really think that this is actually more of a bittersweet farewell.

As Jackson rehearsed for his much-anticipated residency in London but a couple of months before opening night, Ortega and his crew were there with him. They “caught the magic” on camera, which is what you’ll see at the movie theater.

No one could’ve imagined that Jackson, who demands perfection in the nicest of ways, cracks jokes, and appears game and stronger than he’s been described since his death in the media, would be gone before the tour was set to star.

Michael Jackson’s THIS IS IT gives us a rare look at MJ’s genius in action. We hear him asking to let notes “simmer,” blessing everyone around him. We see belt his hits. And we see him dance. Boy, could he dance. (Alas – Spoiler Alert! – there’s no moonwalking.)

We see him getting ready to come back to us – come back alive, perhaps? – and while his dancers are shown doing the heavier lifting, MJ’s essence permeates throughout the stage and runs through their veins.

I’m not sure Michael Jackson’s THIS IS IT will satisfy more than a mere curiosity for what may have been. That concert Jackson was prepping was going to be groundbreaking…seminal…. Epic.

He was just so, after all, and this doc runs with that. There’s no mention of “the end.” This is a celebration of his final work, period. So that’s why and how you should see it. This is an event you do not want to miss, but leave your morbidity at home.

Michael Jackson was a King, but damn it, he was a man, too. A showman. And what a showman he was.

If you’re looking for answers, though, you will not find them in this bit of nostalgia. He wanted to be startin’ somethin’, and now you can see how, so enjoy that.

Zano currently can be seen playing Courteney Cox’s boy-toy on Cougar Town. His new gig as a doctor who works with Lauren (Stephanie Jacobsen) and Michael (Thomas Calabro) on The CW’s troubled reboot will not interfere with his commitment to the ABC hit show.

His character is described as “irreverent and funny…. He will move into the [apartment] building. He doesn’t take life very seriously. Medicine can be very fun as well as serious to him, and he ends up lightening up Lauren.”

I still say getting rid of Colin Egglesfield was a huge mistake, though.

It’s officially official: Pop’s It Girl Lady GaGa will appear in the Nov. 16 episode of Gossip Girl, which is titled “The Last Days of Disco Stick.”

The plot of the evening is said to involve Blair (Leighton Meester, pictured at right with co-star Penn Badgley and their guest) getting Lady GaGa to put on a private show. Meester described GaGa’s appearance as “very avant-garde and kind of gothic.”

A report teased that the “Paparazzi” singer will wear a long staged dress that’s 30 feet long and that she’ll perform her new single, “Bad Romance.”

“She’ll play a dermatologist that my character can’t stop going to even though [she's] mean to me,” Cox teased.

The pseudo-reunion episode will early next year.

Photo: EW.com.

Update: Speaking of the Friends, Matthew Perry has inked a deal with ABC, which airs Cougar Town, to to star in, executive produce, and co-write a potential comedy series about a self-consumed 40-year-old manager of a second-rate sports arena who’s reluctantly learning to be a nicer guy.

Could that sound any more up his alley?

Now click here to find out more – and to read Perry’s ideal timeline for a reunion at Central Perk.

Monday, October 26, 2009

Cindy Crawford may still grace the pages of fashion magazines in editorials and campaigns, but she is done with the runway.

“I don’t want to stand next to a 20-year-old on the runway, even if people say you can still do it. It’s like, ‘Why would I do that to myself?‘ It would just make me depressed,” she said.

“I guess I appreciate my body for other things, like I was able to give birth to two kids. But at the same time, I am aware my body doesn’t look the same way it did when I was 23. I actually don’t want to feel that pressure.”

Sounds like Crawford knows how to quit while she’s ahead, and work what she still has going on to the max.

The Emmy-winning Will & Grace scene-stealer and the Tony- and Emmy-winning petite powerhouse (Wicked, Pushing Daisies) have put the rumors to rest and signed on to headline the revival of the musical Promises, Promises.

The musical, based on the 1960 Oscar-winning Billy Wilder film The Apartment starring Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine, was written by three superstars – Neil Simon (book), Burt Bacharach (music), and Hal David (lyrics) – and includes songs such as “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again” and “Promises, Promises.”

Promises, Promises is set to open on April 25, with previews beginning on March 28.

Photo: Collider.com; AccessHollywood.com.

Update: Also headed to the Great White Way: Scarlett Johansson, who will make her Broadway debut opposite Liev Schreiber in Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge.

Performances are set to begin on Dec. 28, with an opening scheduled for Jan. 24. The limited engagement will run for 14 weeks only.

Comedic geniuz Ricky Gervais has been tapped to host the 67th Annual Golden Globe Awards airing live on NBC on Jan. 17. Gervais will be the award show’s first host since 1995.

“Not only is this the biggest Hollywood celebration of the industry which includes both film and TV, but also an environment where I feel I can get free reign as a host,” the Invention of Lying star said. “I have resisted many other offers like this, but there are just some things you don’t turn down.”

I’ll bet producers have been knocking at his door. The guy kills every single time he makes an appearance at any awards show. He’s always a highlight.

Adding new blood to an established TV show is a tricky proposition, but Grey’s Anatomy has managed to do so this season.

And I’m liking it.

I won’t go into the particulars, but I have to say, out of all the Mercy Westers who have invaded Seattle Grace, I’m most into Jesse Williams’ (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2) Dr. Jackson Avery.

Sebastian Roché, a casualty of The CW’s short-livedThe Beautiful Life is moving onto Fringe.

The actor has joined the increasingly addictive Fox sci-fi show on a recurring basis, replacing the very handsome Thomas Kretschmann as a villainous soldier from the show’s alternate universe, engaged in trying to open a door between worlds.

Krestchmann had to pull out due to a scheduling conflict. His loss is Roché’s win, and hopefully ours as well.

Friday, October 23, 2009

I mean, I knew the Amelia Earhart biopic starring Hilary Swank was coming out, but for some reason I thought it wouldn’t be landing in theaters until later this fall. The movie’s here now, so know you won’t be missing out on much if you skip it.

I’m not saying so because knowing how the story of the pioneering aviatrix ended will diminish the excitement of seeing Swank take on the iconic role, but rather because Nair has managed the impossible feat of applying a heavy hand to a pretty straightforwardly told story…a too straightforwardly told story.

Amelia’s script, adapted from two Earhart biographies, is overstuffed with interesting, but less than riveting information, dwelling too much on her reluctance toward fame and often complicated love life.

Certainly, I learned plenty about the woman, but I didn’t necessarily feel enraptured by her passion for the sky, for her life in the air, which she lived and died for.

By dwelling on the ground, a place Earhart herself didn’t feel at ease in spite of its elegance as seen in the production of the locations, sets, and wardrobes, Nair deadens her movie’s spirit of adventure.

The fact that Earhart made headlines by setting records as the first woman ever to fly across the Atlantic in 1928 as a passenger, and then solo four years later, becomes but a footnote since Amelia worries more about showing us how torn she felt between her George Putnam (Richard Gere), the publisher and promoter who became her husband, and aeronautics pioneer Gene Vidal (a charming Ewan McGregor).

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Once upon a time, there was a girl, a nothing-special type of girl, but this girl would grow up to become the first lady of fashion.

She was Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel, and Anne Fontaine’s Coco Before Chanel tells the story of her life – the story of the legend’s early days, actually.

Played by Audrey Tautou – who has never been as luminous in anything since her big splash in Amélie – Gabrielle is a headstrong French orphan who, through an extraordinary journey, becomes the legendary couturier who embodied the modern woman and became a timeless symbol of success, freedom, and style.

The en-français movie follows Gabrielle’s early formative days in Moulins as she struggled as a sewer by the day and cabaret singer by night (a bit of trivia: it was the song “Qui Qu’a Vu Coco Dans L’Trocadéro” that earned Chanel her trademark nickname, which she was reluctant to accept).

Fiercely independent, if a bit confused about who she was at this stage in her life, Gabrielle took to shacking up with Étienne Balsan (Benoît Poelvoorde), a protective horse breeder living outside Paris, while falling for Arthur “Boy” Capel (Junebug’s Alessandro Nivola), a British entrepreneur and the love of her life.

Coco Before Chanel explores this essential growth in the designer’s life, a transition that didn’t come easy to her as she had to learn how to compromise her distaste for convention with her desire for something more.

Tautou comes off kinda hoity-toity in the movie – she doesn’t…smile much – but it works, for Gabrielle was hardened by her experiences.

Ultimately, though, Coco Before Chanel, unlike its groundbreaking subject, didn’t quite come into its own until late in the game, when Chanel fully embraced her “Coco”ness. A shame, really, since it could’ve made for a more exciting movie.

President Barack Obama, it’s time to prove your mettle, if for no other reason than to get Lady GaGa off your back.

The Senate passed groundbreaking legislation today that, at long frakkin’ last, would make it a federal crime to assault an individual because of his or her sexual orientation or gender identity. The expanded federal hate crimes law now has gone to the POTUS’ desk.

Proving that yes, he can, Obama has pledged to sign the Matthew Shepard & James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which was added to a $680 billion defense authorization bill.

The measure is named for Matthew Shepard, a gay Wyoming teenager who died after being kidnapped and severely beaten in October 1998, and James Byrd Jr., an African-American man dragged to death in Texas the same year.

“Knowing that the president will sign it, unlike his predecessor [George W. Bush], has made all the hard work this year to pass it worthwhile,” said Judy Shepard, board president of the Matthew Shepard Foundation named for her son. “Hate crimes continue to affect far too many Americans who are simply trying to live their lives honestly, and they need to know that their government will protect them from violence, and provide appropriate justice for victims and their families.”

The actors will be last seen in January, by which time the “Who Killed Sydney?” affair will be wrapped up with a ribbon on it. Exec producers Todd Slavkin and Darren Swimmer spilled the beans on this news and other show developments, saying they “always knew that [Simpson-Wentz’s] character, Violet, would be instrumental in that as a suspect, and [Egglesfield’s] Augie as well. And once that murder mystery was solved, she would go on her way. That was the original plan going into the development of the show.

“[Augie] Colin was always meant to be the ultimate suspect. And his brooding alcoholic [character] tonally didn’t fit the paradigm moving into post-murder mystery Melrose Place.”

But he’s so hot!

Photo: TVGuide.com.

Update: In a statement released after the news broke, Simpson-Wentz said, “Having the chance to play Violet on Melrose Place has been a thrill.

“Although I always knew her story would come to a final, insanely unpredictable end, playing a creepy, unstable character was something I always wanted to do, so I jumped at the chance. Thanks to The CW and the entire cast and crew of Melrose Place for allowing me this opportunity.”

How nice and gracious, but why, oh why did they have to get rid of Egglesfield, too?!

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

The Pull of Fashion

Tom Ford may be enjoying auspicious reviews for his directorial debut, A Single Man (due out in December), but the man has confirmed he’s going back to the fashion world by launching Tom Ford womenswear “very soon.”

Fashionistas everywhere just had a little ’gasm.

People in the know are saying that Ford could be back on the runway as early as next fall, pending adequate financing.

I guess Tom Ford, the designer, is anything but O-V-E-R. (Mmm...he makes crow taste so good.)

Kathy Griffin’s ready to spread her holiday cheer with her upcoming album Suckin’ It for The Holidays.

Loving the title....

The scathing new comedy CD for all seasons will arrive in stores on Nov. 3, so get a leg up on your Christmas shopping and pick one up.

(Ever the awards-hungry Queen D, Griffin released a digital-only edition of the album in late August – just so she could qualify for next year’s Grammy. Atta girl!)

Suckin’ It for The Holidays was recorded live during Griffin’s sold-out show at the Borgota Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City last summer.

“Suckin’ It for The Holidays is my holiday gift to Grammy voters,” she said. “It gives them a second chance to do the right thing this year at Best Comedy Album time. The Emmys on my mantle are dying to hang out with a real Grammy.”

You can expect the usual from the comedian, including stories about Katie Couric, Maya Angelou, Suze Orman, Justin Timberlake, T.I., Donald Trump, the Real Housewives, Speidi, her mother, and much more.

This week’s cover story on Glee, officially my favorite new TV show of the season, breaks the news I’ve been anticipating for a while now: Madonna has agreed to let the show use her catalog.

Beloved by critics and fans, Glee has been building on its promise since its debut last spring.

Madonna’s involvement so def is a testament to how big the show is getting – and now Quinn Fabray’s (Dianna Agron) story line can get what it so obviously was meant to have all along: a “Papa Don’t Preach” number.

An all-Madonna-music episode is in the works for early next year.

If the Gleeks should win the finals, they sooo should do “Celebration.” In fact, get the Queen of Pop to guest-star as a glee club teacher or something.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Talk about star wattage: Leo and Angelina may be teaming up for a movie about the Gucci empire.

Ridley Scott’s next project reportedly will revolve around the famed fashion house, and is likely to star Leonardo DiCaprio and Angelina Jolie as Maurizio Gucci and his ex-wife Patrizia.

According to sources, the two actors and Scott have been in talks for a bit now, but neither DiCaprio nor Jolie is officially attached to the project.

Titled Gucci, the movie will focus on Maurizio and his turnaround of the Gucci empire during the 1980s before he was murdered in a plot executed by ex-wife Patrizia Gucci. Charles Randolf (The Interpreter) wrote the current draft of the script.

But now, if the trailer for The Blind Side is to be believed, Sandra Bullock will not be counted out of the 2009 game just yet.

The “based-on-an-incredible-true-story,” about a homeless black teenager (Quinton Aaron) who is taken in by a well-to-do white lady and her family (Bullock and Tim McGraw), will be out just in time for Thanksgiving (it’s actually due out on Nov. 20).

The movie looks heartwarming and like good ol’ family entertainment, and best of all, it might just make a contender out of Bullock (for a Golden Globe at least).

Word on the street is that Gossip Girl star Blake Lively is more than just an actress: The New York, I Love You player’s also a guest-star scout.

Lively is said to have stopped by Victoria Beckham’s Spring 2010 presentation in the Big Apple last month, and reportedly convinced Posh to make a cameo on the show.

The Spice Girl is supposedly due on the Gossip Girl set as soon as Wednesday.

According to a source, “Posh wanted her role to be very tongue-in-cheek. And an idea for her to play Brit actor Ed Westwick’s long-lost mother was quickly vetoed. Victoria joked that she’d rather play his ex-love interest!”

I kinda like this idea: Posh plays cheeky quite well, as all 15 people who watched her NBC special a couple of years ago knows.

Michele, a.k.a. Rachel, the ultra-competitive vocalist on the show, will welcome her old Spring Awakening co-star Jonathan Groff, who has signed on for five or six episodes playing the lead male singer of Vocal Adrenaline, the group already seen performing “Rehab” and “Mercy” earlier this season.

Sex and the City star Sarah Jessica Parker is planning to launch a fragrance inspired by the popular HBO show-turned-movie franchise.

SJP NYC will follow on the heels of the actress’ two successful fragrances, Lovely and Covet. Parker says that the fruity floral scent will be a “party in a bottle,” influenced primarily by her character, Carrie Bradshaw.

“A large part of the inspiration was what I now understand to be people’s impressions of seeing Carrie Bradshaw walk down the street, and what feelings that evokes for her and for them – a real sense of freedom and possibilities, a love for the city around her, and, of course, fashion,” she toldWWD.

SJP NYC is set to be sold exclusively in Macy’s stores beginning in February, just in time to whet fans’ appetites for all things SATC all over again. The Sex and the City sequel then will open in movie theaters three months later.

Photo: People.com.

Update: On a related note, Miley Cyrus has shot her SATC part deux cameo.

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Coming Up on True Blood...

True Blood executive producer Alan Ball and co-star Sam Trammell, a.k.a. Sam Merlotte, know that we’re all waiting with breath that is bated for next summer, which is when the HBO hit show will return with a new season’s worth of episodes.

In the meantime, Ball and Trammell are giving us a taste of what’s to come. Aside from obligatory shirtlessness courtesy of Ryan Kwanten.

Ball says that Season 3 will be “a lot about what it means to be who you are, or what you are,” adding that Sookie (Anna Paquin) “will get closer to figuring out why she has these random powers that show up when they do.” (Hint: Sookie may have a bit of a Tinker Bell thing going on, but, y’ know...minus the adorable factor.)

For his part, Trammell, “is going to be trying to find my biological family, who put me up for adoption or abandoned me. I have a feeling they’re going to be very creepy, sketchy, weird, shape-shiftery weirdos. They’re going to be bad news.”

First, we went to Paris, and now, we’re off to New York – at the movies, at least thanks to New York, I Love You.

A couple of years ago, a group of talented writers and directors and actors delivered Paris, Je T’aime, a lovely film about life and love in the City of Lights.

New York, I Love You is also a series of vignettes – obviously set in the Big Apple – this time helmed by directors including Brett Ratner, Mira Nair, Shekhar Kapur, and Natalie Portman, who pulls double-duty by also acting in Nair’s segment as a Hasidic bride harboring secret longings.

Each entry in this travelogue is named after its director, as opposed to the neighborhood in which the action is set, like in Paris, Je T’aime, which I thought was kind of ill-advised.

But I’ll get to that.

The strength of the project lies in the infinite charm and appeal of the city they like to call Gotham. New York is a city so nice they named it twice, after all.

Wandering around its streets, from SoHo to the Upper West Side, you can run into the likes of, among others,Chris Cooper and Robin Wright Penn; Bradley Cooper and Drea de Matteo; Portman; Rachel Bilson, Hayden Christensen, and Andy Garcia; Ethan Hawke and Maggie Q; Anton Yelchin, Olivia Thirlby, and James Caan; and Orlando Bloom and Christina Ricci.

Isn’t it just swell?

The movie’s main weakness, though, is it feels a bit rushed, and surprisingly draggy in its middle, in its quieter moments. Also, by trying to have certain characters randomly appear as essentially passersby in others’ stories, the movie hammers home the notion that everyone in NYC is a potential Kevin Bacon with his or her own six-degrees-of-separation thing going. Which is not true – there’s only one Kevin Bacon.

Anyway, standouts are Ratner’s segment starring Yelchin, Thirlby, and Caan, and featuring a cameo by Gossip Girl star Blake Lively. As Yelchin got lucky with a more-than-meets-the-eye Thirlby, I was reminded of the city’s anything-can-happen vibe (except that which I mentioned a moment ago...although I look forward to being proven wrong one day), which was captured amusingly, nicely, and, above all, smartly.

Seeing Chris Cooper and Wright Penn flirt up a storm in Yvan Attal’s was super-sexy, full of possibility and just a little naughty. Just like the New York itself. And seeing Joshua Marston’s story, starring Eli Wallach and Cloris Leachman as old Brooklynites, was a pleasure that answered the age-old question of what it’s all about: love (and laughter-inducing oldies but goodies).

New York, I Love You is dedicated to director Anthony Minghella, who passed away shortly before he could shoot the stirringest segment of them all starring Julie Christie, Shia LaBeouf, and John Hurt. Kapur replaced him “with Anthony in my heart and in presence of his soul.”

I think the late director would be pleased with the end result, but, perhaps, he would also have suggested to name each vignette after its neighborhood because it would’ve invited the movie’s audience in a bit more. Not everybody’s familiar with New York, but everybody wants to be. A little direction would’ve been nice.